


Like Drowning

by shiningstar



Category: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Genre: Character Death, Gen, Order 66
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 16:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12486028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiningstar/pseuds/shiningstar
Summary: Something is coming. Something terrible.





	Like Drowning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mossy_Bench](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mossy_Bench/gifts).



Barriss wakes with a start. As her heart pounds in her chest she reaches out and tries to discern what woke her.

Her connection to the Force is a slender and tenuous thing when inhibitors circle her wrists. Most days she can ignore the fact that she feels like a ghost and her connection to the galaxy around her is quiet and subdued. But even she can feel the discordant note that rings like a Benwabulan gong.

Something is coming. Something terrible.

And worst of all, Barriss can do nothing but wait.

She sits quietly on her bunk. As the hours pass by she draws her knees up to her chest and loops her arms around her ankles. Dread has sunk its icy fingernails into her heart. She digs her chin into her knees to feel the ache and focus on something other than her fear.

Barriss waits and waits and when it comes, she is still not prepared.

The first death feels like a speck of rain on her nose. It is a touch so small that it is almost unnoticeable. Her close attention means she senses it, but Barris doesn't understand what it is or why she can feel it.

As more drops follow, Barriss begins to understand.

She keens loudly, rocking on her bunk as the deaths wash over her. They grow in numbers like a wave and threaten to drown her. Thousands of deaths within the space of minutes and Barriss is lost.

She knows them. These are people she cared about, once. Friends and mentors and children, and they are dying in droves. Their last moments are a blur of confusion and pain that echo loudly in Barriss' head.

She never wanted this. She wanted the Jedi to wake up and acknowledge their sins. She wanted them to make amends to the galaxy and seek peace instead of violence. Not this. Never this.

Barriss closes her eyes and weeps.


End file.
